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Storyteller’s Candle / La velita de los cuentos

author: Lucía González

illustrator: Lulu Delacre

translator: Lucía González (?)

Children’s Book Press / Lee & Low, 2008

grades 1-4

Puerto Rican

Because of language and cultural barriers, people who
immigrate to the US can often experience public institutions such as libraries
as unwelcoming and inaccessible. In 1929, Pura Belpré became the first Puerto
Rican librarian to be hired by the New York City Public Library system where,
at the 115th Street branch (and later the 110th Street
branch), she instituted bilingual story hours, purchased Spanish-language
books, and implemented cultural programs. Belpré was an advocate who helped
shape the public library into a community space in which the Spanish language
was used and valued.

Told through the eyes of a young Puerto Rican girl who moves
to New York and meets Pura Belpré, The
Storyteller’s Candle / La velita de los cuentos captures the magic of the
public library in a way that is unusual in children’s books. Though the story
is heavy handed in delivering the message that the public library is for
everyone, it’s an important message nonetheless.

Delacre’s artwork is exceptional on two levels. Beginning
with sepia tones to take the story back in time, she layered oil washes and
paper collage onto bristol paper that she had primed with clear gesso. The
paper collage consists of pieces of an original copy of The New York Times from
January 6, 1930; each piece contains information that correlates with a
particular aspect of the story. And Delacre’s softly toned oil washes show the
many faces of the Puerto Rican people—indeed, “Rainbow People”—with skin tone,
hair, bone structure and facial features different from each other.

However, there are two major problems with the English
version of this story. Usually when words are left in Spanish in the English
version of a text, it is because they have important cultural connotations that
would be lost in translation. Here the story seems to be randomly peppered with
Spanish words that add nothing and only serve to make the English version
awkward and tokenize the characters as “Spanish speakers.” For example, when
the children ask if they can go into the library, their aunt answers, “The
library isn’t for noisy niños like
you.” Who talks like that?

It is also awkward that, in the English version, there is
dialogue in English about how the
characters don’t speak English. For
instance, the aunt says, “We don’t speak English, and the people in there don’t
speak Spanish.” It is confusing, to say the least, and the story would have
been much better in the English version without dialogue.

Despite these problems, Pura Belpré’s story is an important
one. So, La velita de los cuentos
(Spanish version) is highly recommended. On the other hand, The Storyteller’s Candle (English
version) is way not recommended.